AWARDS & RECOGNITION

2017 Rising Star Award Winners

The ACS Women Chemists Committee (WCC) has named the recipients of its 2017 Rising Star Awards, which recognize exceptional early- to mid-career women chemists across all areas of chemistry on a national level.

· Ah-Hyung (Alissa) Park, Ph.D. Columbia University

· Erin E. Carlson, Ph.D. University of Minnesota-Twin Cities

· Yimon Aye, Ph.D. Cornell University

· Beata A. Kilos, Ph.D. The Dow Chemical Company (Midland, MI)

· Erin S. Baker, Ph.D. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

· Rebecca Abergel, Ph.D. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

The winners will highlight their work at an award symposium held at the 253rd ACS National Meeting in San Francisco, CA on Monday, April 3, 2017, and receive travel stipends.

The Rising Star Award was established in 2011 to help promote retention of women in science.

WCC Awards

The WCC and Eli Lilly and Company sponsor this program to provide funding for undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral female chemists to travel to meetings to present the results of their research. The next 10 winners of the travel award will be featured at the poster session before the WCC Luncheon on Tuesday, April 4, 11:00am-noon, in Grand Ballroom A, Hilton Union Square.

Eligibility

Applications should be limited to one per research group. Awards will be given with preference to the following order:

Any applicant who will be making her first presentation (regardless of format) at a national or major meeting.

Graduate or postdoctoral applicants who have not presented at a national or major meeting since completing their undergraduate degree.

Only US citizens and permanent residents are eligible. Those who have received a prior award under this program are ineligible. If an applicant were to win the Merck Research Award, she would not be eligible for the WCC/Eli Lilly award for travel to the fall national ACS meeting.

Merck Award recognizes eight women who will present their research at an awards symposium held during the Fall ACS national meeting.

Awardees will receive a $1,500 stipend to cover Fall ACS national meeting expenses. They will present their research at a WCC/Merck half-day symposium and be recognized at the Awards Symposium Luncheon and the WCC Luncheon.

Eligibility:

3rd & 4th year female graduate students with a research focus in one or more of the following - Organic, Medicinal, Analytical, Chemical Biology, Computational or Structural Chemistry and related disciplines. Open to US citizens or students attending a graduate program in the US. Those who have received a prior award under this program are ineligible.

- A copy of her proposed abstract submission for the WCC/Merck Research Award Symposium and the Technical Division abstract (poster or oral presentation)

- A brief cover letter detailing how this award will impact her career in science (1 page)

- A letter from her advisor confirming her participation in the meeting at which she will be making her presentation, commenting on her technical ability and potential.

Nomination deadline is December 1Apply online or request a hard copy from diversity@acs.org.

Priscilla Carney Jones ScholarshipThis award was established by Paul R. Jones, in memory of his wife. It provides scholarships for female undergraduate majors in chemistry or related disciplines who are beginning their junior or senior years of study.

Nomination deadline is May 1

Rising Star AwardThis award recognizes exceptional early to mid-career women chemists across all areas who have demonstrated outstanding promise for contributions to their respective fields. To be given annually, this new award is also intended to help promote retention of women in science.

Nomination deadline is June 15

Overcoming Challenges AwardThis award recognizes a female undergraduate for her efforts in overcoming hardship to achieve success in chemistry.

Nomination deadline is April 1

2014 WCC ChemLuminary Award

WCC Chair Amber Charlebois and ACS President Tom Barton present the 2014 WCC ChemLuminary Award to Councilor Greg Milligan and WCC Chair Robbyn Purdue-Anand of the Puget Sound Local Section for Outstanding Program Aimed at Retaining Women in the Chemical Enterprise

WCC ChemLuminary Award

The WCC sponsors one award for local sections each year to be presented at the ChemLuminary ceremony during the ACS Fall National Meeting. The ACS ChemLuminary Awards recognize volunteer participants in ACS Local Sections and Divisions whose efforts have helped to achieve excellence. In order to provide the opportunity to focus on different aspects of the WCC’s mission – to be leaders in attracting, developing, promoting and advocating for women in the chemical sciences – WCC rotates the category for the award on an annual basis.

Detail on the past winners' programs can be found at the following link:

The 2016 WCC ChemLuminary Award (for activities in 2015) is for 'Mentoring at the Collegiate Level'.

How to nominateYour section can self-nominate for a WCC ChemLuminary Award when submitting the section's annual report to the ACS national office or your section can submit nominations directly to WCC. Plenty of local sections engage in award-worthy activities, but if they don't "blow their own horns," WCC can't recognize them!

Self nominations often include: a description of the event, how the award theme has been realized, how many people attended, source of the funds, what did and did not work, obstacles encountered and overcome, photographs, links to websites, etc. In addition, there are two mandatory questions:1. What made your event/program outstanding? {Answers to this question may include information about the event attendance, feedback from participants, media attention, etc.)2. How does your event/program support the mission of the WCC?

Please include a photo of your activity if you have one. If you have already submitted your report via your local section annual report - great work! Please forward a copy of the report and a photo. We would like to feature some local section WCC events in an upcoming WCC newsletter.

Send nominations to wcc@acs.org by March 15th and/or include the event details in the organization's Annual Report.

ACS National Awards

Are you aware that the overall level of nominations has dropped for the national awards administered by the American Chemical Society? Additionally, it is a continuing dilemma that very few chemists with disabilities, minority chemists, or women chemists receive these national awards. WCC, together with the Committee on Minority Affairs, the Committee on Chemists with Disabilities, the Younger Chemists Committee, and the Committee on Technician Affairs, are united in our efforts to be leaders in promoting diversity and inclusiveness within the ACS.

In addition, ACS has partnered with the Association For Women In Science (AWIS) and six other disciplinary societies on the AWARDS (Advancing Ways of Awarding Recognition in Disciplinary Societies) project to formulate and implement change. More information can be found on the AWIS website.

Iota Sigma Pi Student Awards, Scholarships, and InternshipsFounded in 1902 and organized on a nation-wide basis in 1916, Iota Sigma Pi serves to promote the advancement of women in chemistry by granting recognition to women who have demonstrated superior scholastic achievement and high professional competence.Awards include:

Gladys Anderson Emerson Undergraduate Scholarship

Undergraduate Award for Excellence in Chemistry

Anna Louise Hoffman Award for Outstanding Achievement in Graduate Research